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While investigating facts about 16th Century, I found out little known, but curios details like:

The Vikings had their own version of rap battling called "flyting" which is "a ritual, poetic exchange of insults practised mainly between the 5th and 16th centuries"

In the 16th century, Christians called the Anabaptists did not partake in infant baptism, instead believing that only free-willed adults could decide for themselves to be baptized. They were persecuted and killed.

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about 16th Century I managed to collect.

  1. In the 16th century, Christians called the Anabaptists did not partake in infant baptism, instead believing that only free-willed adults could decide for themselves to be baptized. They were persecuted and killed.

  2. Hans Steininger, a 16th century German Mayor of a small town, died by tripping on his beard. It was over 4 and a ½ feet long and he usually kept it tucked away in a pocket, but during a town fire he forgot to put it in and tripped on in it in the chaos, breaking his neck.

  3. Yasuke, a 16th century African who traveled to Japan as a slave, caused such a sensation that a powerful warlord wished to see him. He thought his black skin was paint and ordered it to be scrubbed. However, they became friends and Yasuke was later given the prestigious rank of Samurai.

  4. The "L" in "could" was added intentionally in the 15th or 16th century solely to match the spellings of "would" and "should."

  5. Pants and trousers are called pairs because they used to be separate. As early as the 16th Century, you'd feed one leg in, tie the top around your waist and do the same with the other leg. The name stayed even when they started being made as a single item.

  6. In 2010, a 3-year old boy playing with his father's metal detector for the first time discovered a 16th century golden pendant estimated to be worth $4 million.

  7. The "proof" scale for alcohol was created by 16th century British sailors to describe the strength of their rum rations. Gunpowder soaked with less than 100 proof rum would not burn and was considered unacceptable.

  8. Myiamoto Musashi. A samurai from the 16th century, won over 60 duels, fought in 2 wars and is credited with inventing the art of psyching out your opponent and dual wielding katana, he killed his first man at the age of 13.

  9. Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Machiavelli were all living together in Florence in the 16th century

  10. The name "California" comes from a 16th century romance novel about a mythical island populated solely by black women warriors armed with gold weapons, ruled by a Queen named Calafia.

16th century facts
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In the 16th century, prestigious mathematics professorships could be "won" by defeating the current professor in a public algebra competition

When a 16th century cathedral in Salamanca, Spain was renovated in the early 1990s, ornate stone carvings of an astronaut and a gargoyle eating ice cream were added near the entrance. - source

Giordano Bruno. In the 16th century he proposed that our sun was just another star moving in space. The Roman Inquisition considered this as heresy and Bruno was burned at the stake. - source

The 16th century monk Giordano Bruno proposed that stars were distant suns surrounded by exoplanets that could contain life. He was sentenced to death by the same man who sentenced Galileo to death.

Tycho Brahe, an immensely rich Danish astronomer living in the 16th century that owned not only a midget that could predict the future, but also a pet elk that once drank too much beer on a party, fell down the stairs and died. - source

“mechanical” prosthetics date back to the 16th century when wounded knights would need mechanical fingers to still grip their swords or lance

Around the 16th century, there was a chamber in the fortress of Biertan (Romania) where all the couples that wanted to divorce were forced to live with only one item of everything: one bed, one spoon, one chair, etc. before breaking up. Only one couple in 300 years ended up divorcing.

The traditional Japanese dish of Tempura was actually introduced to them by Portuguese missionaries in the 16th Century

When the Portuguese introduced chili peppers to Japan in the 16th century, rather than being eaten they were commonly put into socks to keep toes warm.

In 16th and 17th Century Denmark, merchant ship captains had to pay a toll based on the value of the goods on the ship. The value was declared by the captain. The Danish authorities could take the value based toll (1-2%) or opt to buy the cargo for the declared value.

In 16th century London, a law forbade wife-beating after 9:00pm, but only because the noise disturbed people's sleep.

Interesting facts about 16th century

In 16th century China, when the imperial army and navy failed to defeat Japanese pirates, Shaolin monks were dispatched to get rid of them. In one battle, the monks were especially ruthless, killing every single opposing pirate over a ten day period, including one's wife that tried to flee

Tycho Brahe, an enormously rich 16th century Danish astronomer, who is well known for his pet moose that accompanied him everywhere and developed a strong taste for beer, eventually becoming so intoxicated at a party that it fell down a flight of stairs and died from subsequent injuries

The government of Nazi Germany memorialized the victims of European witch trials of the 16th to 18th centuries, as they thought witchcraft represented the remnant of an indigenous "Aryan" religion untainted by the Judaic influence of Christianity.

Before the fruit, the colour orange had no name, it was basically known as a "yellow-red". The earliest known usage of the word Orange to refer to the fruit is around the 13th century. The earliest use of the word Orange to refer to the colour is the 16th Century.

The interjection "yo" dates back to 16th-century Middle English and was popularized by Italian-Americans in Philadelphia in the 1940s.

Flyting, a contest consisting of the exchange of insults, often conducted in verse, between two parties practiced mainly between the 5th and 16th centuries. It is said flyting has similarities to slam poetry and rap battles of today.

The "t" in "often" became silent during the 16th and 17th centuries to simplify the word's articulation, but as literacy rose in the 1800s, "t" began to reenter speech as more people became aware of spelling.

The reason that so many working-class British men wore a flat cap is that a 16th-century Act of Parliament designed to stimulate wool consumption penalized non-nobles over the age of 6 if they weren't wearing a woolen cap.

Some artists between 16th and 19th centuries used a type of brown paint called Mummy Brown, which was made from ground up Egyptian mummies.

The 16th century Girolamini library had been systematically looted by the library's director. Thousands of rare and historically invaluable books were stolen including works of Galileo and Kepler, many are still missing. The director was sentenced to 7 years house arrest.

A 10 year old boy was captured and sold into slavery by the King of Algiers in the 16th Century, and he rose to become one of the richest, most influential, and well-liked Barbary pirates, and his name was Ali Bitchin.

Pictures of Muhammad were not forbidden in Islam until the 16th or 17th centuries (and it's not condemned in the Koran)

Mormon prophet Joseph Smith wrote that the father of the Biblical Pharaoh was named "Egyptus". Not only was the word "Egypt" not in use until the 16th Century, ancient Egyptians referred to the country as "Kemet".

Tomatoes originated in Mexico and when brought to Italy in the 16th Century were mainly used for decorative purposes. It took til 1790 for Tomato sauce to first appear in a cookbook.

With a practice dating back to the 16th century, there are still some banks in Italy which accept wheels of Parmesan as collateral for a secured loan with favourable terms

A community of monks in the Austrian Alps in the 16th century invented a method of painting on canvas made from spider webs, and today less than 100 known examples exist.

"Yasuke" the first recorded foreign born samurai in Japan from the 16th century. He was a black man from Mozambique and would have been extremely tall at the time. It was reported he had the strength of 10 men.

Michelangelo's painting "The Last Judgment" features naked men kissing one another and one man being dragged to hell by his testicles. Scholars believe the homoerotic figures were inspired by male prostitutes in baths and brothels that Michelangelo frequented in 16th century Rome.

The Aztec Triple Alliance (which ruled modern-day central Mexico in the 15th and early 16th centuries) is widely credited as being the first nation to make education mandatory for all children.

16th century Puritans saw common names as too worldly, so they opted for virtuous/religious names instead. This led to names such as If-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about 16th Century. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is 16th Century so important!

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